Fidel Castro

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It was a proud moment for Papua New Guinea when Miss PNG 2015 Abigail Havora returned from the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant in Cook Islands last year with the regional queen title and crown.

PM O’Neill extends condolence following death of Fidel Castro

In a statement read out by a presenter on Chinese state-TV, Xi praised the founder of Communist Cuba. He said Castro had made "immortal historical achievements for the development of world socialism."

But decades earlier, Fidel Castro himself didn't have such praise for the founder of Communist China.

"I believe that Mao (Zedong) destroyed with his feet what he did with his head for many years. I'm convinced of that. And some day the Chinese people, the Communist party of China will have to recognize that," Castro told American journalist Barbara Walters in May 1977.

Prime Minister O’Neill, who arrived back from an official visit to Cuba on Friday, said at the passing of a world Leader, irrespective of politics, is a time to pause and reflect.

"It was only Tuesday night this week that I had dinner with President Raul Castro and he expressed his concern at the health of his brother,” the Prime Minister said.

"We did not expect that the passing of Fidel Castro would be so soon.

"The passing of Fidel Castro is another marker in global politics.

The Pope was delivering a subtle jab at the communist system during a Mass celebrated under the gaze of an image of Che Guevara in Havana's iconic Revolution Plaza.

The Vatican described the 40-minute meeting at Castro's residence as informal and familial, with an exchange of books and discussion about big issues facing humanity, including Francis' recent encyclical on the environment and the global economic system.

The essay comes a day before an historic moment in U.S.-Cuba relations: Secretary of State John Kerry is to raise the Stars and Stripes over a restored American Embassy in Havana, though the economic embargo legally remains in effect.

The rapprochement after 54 years of formal diplomatic estrangement was engineered by Fidel's brother Raul, who took over Cuba's presidency after the elder Castro suffered a health crisis in 2006.

But they're not sure how far to go in lifting sanctions, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released Monday as full diplomatic relations between the two countries were formally restored.

"Relations between Cuba and the U.S. I think are long overdue. There's no threat there," said Alex Bega, 30, of Los Angeles. "I think the sanctions we have on them are pretty much obsolete."

Cuban state media are carrying the text of a letter he wrote to Tsipras.